What's in a Name
by Antman76
Summary: The Batman investigates to discover The Joker's real name.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Batman or any DC comics characters

A/N: This story takes place while Tim Drake is still Robin and references The Killing Joke. If you haven't read it I suggest you do. Just a little play on names from the DC mulitverse. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Most of the lights are off in the Wayne Enterprises building. That's the way it is most nights at 11 PM. Some workaholics remain to meet some deadline set forth by Lucius Fox or even Mr. Wayne. The ones that do remain do not notice the two figures crouched upon the lower roof. They may not notice them but they know that they are out there, watching over Gotham City. They know that they can work a little easier without worry of some lunatic storming the building, although that doesn't seem to be a problem tonight.

Robin shifts in his crouching position to relieve the pressure on his feet. "Quiet tonight, huh?"

Batman, still unmoved from his original crouch, replies in his usual short to-the-point manner. "Very."

"That's good though isn't it?"

"Yes it is, especially since you have that chemistry test tomorrow."

Robin rolls his eyes under his mask. "Yeah but I've got that down."

He briefly glances at his partner. "You may but you still need rest before a test."

"I'll be fine."

"I want you home by midnight, twelve-thirty at the latest."

Robin's face contorts into a grimace. "Aww, come on."

Batman glances at Robin again letting him know the subject was closed. Behind them on the upper roof another figure descends down. Slowly scaling down the building landing on the lower roof without making a noise. He begins slowly stalking the dynamic duo. Just before he reaches them, Batman speaks. "Hello Nightwing."

"Dammit!" He exclaims. "I'm I ever gonna be able to sneak up on you?"

"No." Batman answers coldly. "Bludhaven must be quiet tonight."

Nightwing takes a seat on the roof ledge next to his former partner. "Yeah just like here. I was hoping for some action tonight."

"Bad day?" Batman asks.

Nightwing shakes his head. "Women trouble."

Batman grunts slightly as he says. "I don't wanna hear about it." He stands from his crouch. "Since you're so eager I'll let you have the city tonight. I have a few things to work on back in the cave." He glances at Robin. "You coming?"

Robin shakes his head. "No way. I've still got an hour and a half."

"One hour, twenty minutes." Batman corrects him as he pulls his grappler gun from under his cape.

Robin lifts the hidden panel on his left glove and glances down at it. "Oh yeah," he says nervously.

Batman aims his grappler at a nearby building. "Twelve-thirty, no later. Dick take care of my city."

Nightwing smiles at his mentor. "You know I will." Batman fires his gun and swings out of site. Nightwing scoots closer to Robin. "Well there he goes, chasing his obsession."

Robin looks puzzled. "Huh? I thought crime fighting was his obsession."

"Well I guess it's more like a hobby."

"Batman has a hobby? No way."

Nightwing chuckles. "Well it's something he's been working on since I was Robin."

Robin looks more puzzled. "What?"

"Haven't you ever gone through his personal files?"

"I tried once but he almost caught me."

Nightwing laughed. "I gotta teach you the finer points of being Robin."

He groaned. "Will you tell me what it is already, my time is running short."

"He's trying to figure out Joker's real name."

Robin shakes his head. "I always thought he was Jack Napier."

"Urban myth." Nightwing says as he chuckled. "Napier was Carl Grissom's lieutenant. When Rupert Thorne moved in and had Grissom killed, Napier retired and lived just outside of Gotham until he disappeared two years later."

"What happened to him?"

"No one knows for sure. But the Joker had already been operating about eight months before the disappearance. Bruce has a theory that Joker killed Napier and hid the body to perpetuate the myth."

Robin shook his head. "Yeah but that's not Joker's m.o."

Nightwing shrugged. "Like I said, it's just a theory. Lets get on patrol. If something happens I don't wanna miss it." Robin stands from his crouch and almost falls backward because his leg was asleep. Nightwing laughed. "That's why I always sit on the ledge."

Robin was shaking his leg as he asked, "Another finer point of being Robin?"

Nightwing nodded as he and Robin launched their grapplers at a nearby building and swung away.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Batman or any DC comics characters

Chapter 2

The Batmobile roars through the cave before coming to a stop at its usual parking space. The top opens and Batman leaps out as he pulls his cowl off of his head, letting it hang behind him. He walks toward the computer and sits in his usual chair. Beside the computer is his personal file cabinet. It is small and black with a keypad on top of it. He presses the code in and pulls the first file out. He pulls a small flash drive out and inserts it into the USB port. He always starts at the beginning, although he always arrives at the same dead end.

"Coffee sir?" Alfred's voice breaks the silence and Bruce flinches in his chair.

"Dammit Alfred, why are you the only person that can do that to me?"

Alfred smirks. "Years of practice sir."

Bruce smiles a crooked smile. "Yes I'll have some coffee, I think I'll study this a while."

"Very good sir." Alfred sets a cup down on the desk and fills it. He then turns on a warmer at the edge of the desk and places the pot upon it. "I'll leave the pot sir." Bruce barely nods as he stares at the computer screen. "I think I shall retire for the evening, sir. If you have need of me just ring my room."

Bruce doesn't look away from his data. "Ok goodnight Alfred."

"Goodnight Master Bruce." Alfred turns and heads for the stairs. Bruce continues to examine the pictures that were taken of various Red Hoods. Most were taken from surveillance cameras at different crime scene locations. There were seven pictures. He deduced from this that at each heist the Red Hood was someone different at almost every crime. Some were obvious size differences but others were more subtle. In two pictures the Red Hood was carrying a bag in his left hand, the other five in his right hand. This indicates that either the Red Hood was ambidextrous or two Red Hoods were left-handed. He assumed it was the latter. Another difference was the skin tone of one of the suspects. The clothing on one of the Red Hoods didn't fit quiet right so a portion of his wrist was visible in one photo. In this photo the man had an African-American skin tone. Bruce knew the Joker wasn't African-American before his unfortunate accident. During his chase of that particular Red Hood, his sleeve caught the railing of the catwalk and came up enough to see that his skin tone was Caucasian.

Bruce always came up with the same conclusion here. The name Red Hood wasn't far off the mark. It should have been Red Herring. He believed whoever was wearing that mask at the time would have been the fall guy if they were ever caught, most likely someone with inside knowledge or maybe even some small time crook off the street.

He closed the pictures of the other Red Hoods and focused on the photo of the one that would become the Joker. He reaches into his file and pulls the police report on the incident and looks it over. It didn't have much helpful information in it. He wished the other perpetrators had survived to get information from. Unfortunately, they were shot and killed by the security personnel at the chemical plant. He wasn't sure but he assumed they had only broken into the plant to access the credit card company next door. The chemical plant had nothing of real value to the common thief. It would have held a lot of value for someone planning a big crime. But that wasn't the m.o. of the group, although it would fit the Joker's profile now. In fact he did try to steal a number of chemicals from that plant a few years later so he could poison the city.

Bruce tapped the keyboard and three personnel files popped up. These were from three former employees that quit up to four months before. None of the three had a previous criminal record. One of them disappeared a month before the heist, an apparent suicide after the death of his pregnant wife. Another one disappeared a few days after the heist after his stock portfolio plummeted. It was believed that he also committed suicide. It's possible that either could have been the Red Hood but very unlikely. The third one quit four months before the heist and is alive and well living in Central City working at Star Labs under a different name. The reason for his name change is currently unknown.

Piecing together the stories of his origin is difficult, even those that Joker has told the story to have varying accounts. The Joker himself has said that he remembers the story differently every time. The one constant was his career choice before the incident, a stand-up comic.

Bruce taps the keyboard again and a new list comes up. This is a list of the five comedy clubs that were operating when the heist took place. After He finishes tapping the keys he notices a quick shuffling sound behind him. Bruce looks at the clock in the corner of his screen and sees that it is ten minutes after one. He simply closes his eyes and says, "You're late."

"Dammit!" Tim exclaims. "I know but Dick and I just got to talking and…"

Bruce turns in his chair to face Tim whom is already out of his mask and cape. "Tim, I may not be able to control what Dick says but I can with you. So watch your mouth and go to bed."

Tim drops his head and says, "Yessir." He almost reaches the stairs when he mumbles under his breath, "Like you've never said dammit before."

"TIM!"

"Ok…ok."

Bruce turns back to his computer smiling slightly and begins studying the screen again.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Batman or any DC comics characters

Chapter 3

Bruce examines the acts that were performing in the comedy clubs up to a month before the incident. Immediately he knew he could cross anyone whom headlined any of these comedy clubs. Most of them were still touring or had retired and were accounted for. It was the same with most of the opening acts as well, although it was much more difficult to locate most of those. Some had made a decent living at stand-up comedy but most faded into obscurity. The only opening act that wasn't accounted for was previously in one of Gotham's local street gangs. Bruce believed most likely he was a victim of some sort of gang retaliation.

With all established comics accounted for he knew there was only one other option. The Joker must have appeared during some sort of open-mike night. Only two of the five clubs offered such entertainment during the month in question, fortunately both clubs kept records of all comics that appeared on their stages. Bruce taps his keyboard again and a new list appears. Fifteen persons participated in these open-mike nights at both the clubs for the month. The list was easy to narrow down. Eight of the people on this list were law-abiding citizens, four were small time crooks and were currently locked up or have reformed their ways, but three were unaccounted for. Bruce mused to himself about the reoccurrence of the number three but knew it was just a coincidence.

He had known some criminals to refer to the Joker as Jack. Two names on the list could suggest a connection, Jackson Brown and Jack Blake. The third name, Ed Rhodes, didn't seem connected but that didn't mean it wasn't. Here was the point that Bruce hits a wall. There are no records on any of these three men, so there is no way to track them. He stares at the computer screen hoping one name would jump off the screen at him. After a moment he realizes that won't happen and simply closes his eyes.

The Batcave became deathly silent. Bruce leans his head back and says. "Dick I know you're there so please don't say dammit."

Nightwing emerges from the shadows and removes his mask. "Well, I could say a lot worse."

Bruce spins his chair and looks at his former partner coldly. "Tim is picking up on your particular speech patterns."

Dick raises his eyebrow. "My speech patterns?" He shakes his head. "Bruce, I was hearing worse stuff at school when I was younger than he is now." He glances at the computer screen. "So how goes the search?"

"The same dead end." Bruce says as he closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose.

Dick nods. "Well you'll figure it out eventually." Taking care not to dwell on the subject long he continues. "Well, I think I'll head back to Bludhaven. There wasn't anything going on tonight but I do have a lead on a gang smuggling in some illegal weapons."

"When's the deal going down?"

"In about a week, I'm still a little fuzzy on the details. I was hoping to get inside to find out. I may need to borrow your secret identity."

Bruce smiles. "I don't think that being Bruce Wayne will help you get deeper into a weapons smuggling ring."

Dick looks at Bruce. "You know Bruce, when you do make a joke it's not very funny. I was meaning Matches Malone."

Bruce nods. "Yeah I know. Won't you be a little young to be Matches?"

"If they say anything I'll just say I'm Matches' kid or something, that's close enough to the truth anyway."

Bruce shrugs as he often does when Dick or Tim make a reference to any sort of family relationship. "Good luck Dick, I'm going back to work."

Dick smiles a crooked smile. "Yeah well I love you too. I'll show myself out."

Bruce ignores the sentimental comment. "Let me know if you need help. One day you'll have to invent your own stage name."

"Yeah yeah." Dick said as he was leaving the cave.

Bruce stares at his work again looking for the missing piece of the puzzle. Then two words whispered from his lips. "Stage name?" He looks at the name Jack Blake then brings up the three previous missing employees. He stares at the new list in disbelief. How could he have not noticed it before? He puts his hand on his forehead and slides it slowly down his face. He begins rambling the clues to himself. "Stand up comic…chemical plant employee…one bad day…Blake." Could this be the Joker's real name? There was only one way to find out.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Batman or any DC comics characters

Chapter 4

It was quiet at Arkham Asylum. Most of the lights were still out to allow the inmates to sleep; they wouldn't be turned back on for another two hours. The Joker lay in his cell looking at the ceiling blankly. Occasionally he would look out into the hall at the dimly lit clock, impatiently waiting for the lights to come on so he could have breakfast. As he turned to look again he noticed the dark figure standing just outside of the Lexan glass that made up his door. He turns back to look at the ceiling again and rolls his eyes. "It's a little late for you to be out isn't it, Longears? I mean when the sun comes up won't you just spontaneously combust or something?"

"Not Hardly." Batman says in his usual tone.

Joker snickers a little. "Well one can always hope. So what brings you here, are you looking for something or did you just come to chit-chat?"

"A little bit of both…Mr. Blake." Joker sits up on his cot and stares at The Dark Knight. "Mr. Edward Morgan Blake."

Joker begins snickering again then breaks out into full-fledged laughter. "Is that what's been keeping you up nights? Really Batsy, you need to find a new hobby." He stops laughing and glares at Batman. "You really do!" Then he erupts in laughter again falling back on the cot holding his stomach. "Ha, sometimes I just kill myself."

Batman grins coldly. "One can only hope."

Joker stops laughing again. "It was funnier when I said it."

Batman stops grinning. "Just one bad day led to all of this?"

Joker yawns. "Oh stop trying to psychoanalyze me…I'm psycho enough as it is." He begins snickering again.

Batman leans closer to the glass. "But what do you think you're wife would say?"

Joker glares at Batman then laughs again. "She'd say, Let me out of this coffin!" After a moment of hysterical laughter he speaks again. "Don't try to evoke some emotion about my dead wife because I have none and don't try to reach out to old Eddie Blake, he died when his wife did."

"It doesn't have to be that way. You could have had a very successful career as a stand-up comic, especially with that look."

Joker laughs again. "Oh no Bat-Brain. Don't you see? Life's a joke, just one big joke."

"What?" Batman asks.

"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Joker is the only thing that makes sense." Joker snickers again. "Besides I make a much better Joker than I do a Comedian."

Batman shakes his head and walks away as the Joker falls onto the floor laughing.

A/N: Thanks for reading my fanfic. Hope you enjoyed it. Please comment.


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